Pottsville lowers plat feePOTTSVILLE — The Pottsville City Council approved lowering the preliminary plat fee from $30 per lot to $3 per lot during its regular meeting Monday. "We found out that's really excessive," Mayor Jerry Williams said of the current fee. "Most are $3 to $5, and some are as low as $2." Fire Chief Brad Judkins told the council the fire department received a 2002 Freightliner 2,000-gallon tanker engine, which will replace the 1989 Mack engine the d...

PCLS develops master planThe Pope County Library System (PCLS) Board of Trustees discussed its master plan and the 329 public survey responses it received regarding library priorities during its regular meeting. PCLS is composed of four libraries — Atkins, Dover, Hector and Russellville. The master plan recommends each branch increase 4.5 times its current size. The public survey was the first step in the seven-step master plan. The next steps include developing a pub...

Faaborg celebrates 50 years as hairdresserLocal hairdresser Jean Faaborg has spent the past 50 years in a profession she loves. "There's so much more to cosmetology than just doing someone's hair," Faaborg said. She said being a hairdresser requires good listening skills and discretion. "Hairdressers kind of have a rep[utation] of being gossips," she said. "I pride myself in not repeating things told to me in confidence." Faaborg, 69, graduated from Bernel Hairstyling College in Iowa ...

News Briefs (March 22, 2014)Audubon Society meeting Monday The Arkansas River Valley Audubon Society will meet at 7 p.m. Monday at the Lake Dardanelle State Park Visitor Center. A program will be presented by Leif Anderson with the U.S. Forest Service on “Exploring the Ozark National Forest.” Refreshments will be served and visitors are welcome. For more information, call Coe Wilson at (479) 208-2264. Health insurance enrollment fair Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center,...

Humphrey: No question off limitsJim Bob Humphrey, president of Humphrey Funeral Service, presented the Russellville Board of Education his proposal for Center Valley Memorial Gardens during its regular meeting Tuesday. "No question is off limits," Humphrey told the board. The memorial, which he plans to build on property along Center Valley Road and State Highway 124, would include a cemetery, an administrative building, chapels and a state-of-the-art crematorium. "The state...

AHS committee raises $1,800 in donkey basketball fundraiser ATKINS — The Atkins High School (AHS) After Prom Committee raised $1,800 through ticket sales and concessions with its donkey basketball fundraiser Friday evening. A crowd of nearly 500 squeezed into the old gym to watch the red team — led by school board member Mark Coffman — come back from an 11-6 halftime deficit to defeat the white team — led by Superintendent Mark Gotcher — with a final score of 24-22. Gotcher scored the first basket of t...

RJHS mom enters nationwide contestA local single mother has entered a nationwide contest in the hope of winning a new van to drive her special-needs daughter to appointments. Samantha Bartlett, 14, was born with with a rare chromosome deletion that has left her with significant delays in all areas. Her diagnosis falls under the cerebral palsy umbrella. She will require total care for the rest of her life. "Samantha travels in her wheelchair, so a van is required to get her to ...

News Briefs (March 15, 2014)Oakland Cemetery meeting Tuesday The Russellville Oakland Cemetery regular meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the second floor conference room at City Hall. Discussion Tuesday on public education The state of public education will be examined at Lifetree Café at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Participants in the Lifetree program will discuss the current state of public education and what changes might improve the system for schools, parents, and stud...

Danville prepares for first Math/Science NightDANVILLE — A committee of Danville School District faculty have made preparations for the district's first Math/Science Night. The event will begin at 5 p.m. on May 1. Attendees can expect science experiments, math activities, a popsicle party and prizes. The science experiments and math activities will include a rocket launch, creating clouds inside a bottle, making slime, tricycle races on polygons, making 2-D and 3-D marshmallow shapes and ...

No site selected for aquatic centerThe Russellville Recreation and Parks Commission delayed a decision Tuesday to choose a site recommendation for the proposed indoor aquatic center. From an analysis of three potential sites — located at Vick Field across from the Hughes Center on Parkway Drive, city-owned property on North Phoenix Avenue and East 19th Street on property behind the L.V. Williamson Boys and Girls Club — Little Rock-based ETC Engineers & Architects gave Vick Fiel...

Remembrance run starts FridayOZARK — The third annual Arkansas Run for the Fallen will begin at 10 a.m. Friday at Ozark City Hall and will finish Sunday afternoon at the Arkansas State Capitol in Little Rock. Bubba Beason, who coordinated the Arkansas event, said the run is "an apolitical reflection of remembrance." The core running team consists of active duty and reserve airmen, soldiers, marines and Arkansas State Police, Beason said. The 143-mile memorial run is to ho...

Coffman named Atkins 2013 Citizen of the YearATKINS — People for a Better Atkins (PBA) named Stacey Coffman the 2013 Citizen of the Year and honored her during a reception Saturday. Coffman, 39, serves as secretary of the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) at Atkins Elementary School. She and her husband of 10 years, Mark, oversee the basketball program for Atkins Youth Association. She is active with AWANA and Vacation Bible School at The First Baptist Church of Russellville. Coffman coo...

PJHS students contribute to a national campaignPOTTSVILLE — Six Pottsville Junior High School (PJHS) students collected 100 pairs of jeans to help homeless teens as part of a national campaign. PJHS EAST students Allison Willcutt, Erin Aulgur, Alexis Dermaus, Sabrina Jones, Madi Rust and Kara Beaton saw a list of projects to better one’s community on Aeropostale’s Do Something website, www.dosomething.org, and decided to participate in the Jeans for Teens movement. “We heard about this org...

Downtown Art Walk features "The Conceptual Art Show"Gallery 307 and The Frame Shop in downtown Russellville announce the opening of a joint exhibition, “The Conceptual Art Show,” during the scheduled Downtown Art Walk on Friday, March 7 from 5-8 p.m. The juried show will feature the works of art students from Arkansas Tech University. According to curator Jeannie Stone, a recent conceptual art history class spurred students to continue to create after the class ended and to share their enthusia...

Atkins considers later startATKINS — The Atkins School District is considering starting classes 15 minutes later, beginning in the 2014-15 school year. The school day currently runs from 7:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., with most other schools in Pope County starting at 8 a.m. or later. Mark Gotcher, who became superintendent in July, said a parent asked him in August why Atkins starts before the rest. Gotcher asked around and said nobody was certain of the reason. He decided to ...

Church celebrates 100 yearsThe First Assembly of God in Russellville is kicking off festivities Saturday to celebrate its upcoming 100th anniversary. Contemporary gospel bluegrass band The Isaacs will perform at 6 p.m. Saturday in the sanctuary. The event is free and open to the public. A love offering will be taken. George Wood, First Assembly of God international general superintendent, will speak during the 10 a.m. service Sunday. "It's an awesome thing, a high honor...

Volunteers clean up after stormsRecent weather has kept The River Valley Arkansas Master Naturalists (RVAMN) busy. RVAMN consists of a group of about 20 volunteers who do maintenance and clean up streams and roads throughout the year and special projects following storms. "We went to Mount Magazine three different times after [recent] ice storms closed all the trails up there," Phil Wanzer, RVAMN president, said. "We opened several trails and cleared the campground of massiv...

Royal Family Camp celebrates 10th yearPOTTSVILLE — The Pope County Royal Family Kids (RFK) Camp will host its 10th annual Celebration Banquet at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Pottsville Assembly of God Church gymnasium. The banquet is a community awareness event to help celebrate the ministry's accomplishments, Debbie Young, camp director said. There is no charge for the event, and child care is available. "This is not a fundraiser and no offering will be taken," Young said. "A donation ...

Cargill hosts 11th annual United Way Pork-loin CookoutEmployees of Cargill in Russellville recently presented River Valley United Way with a check in the amount of $13,237 from their 11th annual United Way Pork-loin Cookout fundraiser, held in Nov. 2013, after being matched in funds by Cargill Corporate. Cargill’s recent fundraiser doubled in sales from the previous year and sold out on day 2 and 3 of the sale for preorders. A special thanks goes to Arvest Bank and their employees for volunteerin...